My D26 is headed to Vassar- and here in Kentucky, plenty of people haven’t heard of it. My DH and I both attended liberal arts colleges, and he teaches at one. There’s a reason professors love to send their kids to LACs!
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Oh, we just get “where? Why?” Californians with engineering kids know UIUC but it seems not a lot of others do 
and I’m tired of explaining that are exactly 3 CA publics that do undergrad architecture, only one of which is the 4-year option my kid wants, and all of them are highly impacted and effectively require a GPA of 4 to even have a chance.
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Congratulations! That was my kid’s second choice- we were so impressed by Oberlin, it’s a fantastic school. I hope your DD loves it, I honestly thought my kid would end up there!
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Haha, this reminds me that the opposite works too. One of my American classmates at Cambridge said his family had no idea what that was, and one of his uncles asked “is that near Harvard”? Apparently they didn’t quite believe him when he told then where Cambridge MA got its name from…!
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Would it help to say “she’s attending HRC’s alma mater?” (And Secretary Albright’s!)
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Haha, it might! I’ll have to try that angle out.
It also makes now an excellent time for a student to go to Villanova (The Pope!) or Bowdoin (Mayor Mamdani!)
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Things continue to evolve among D26 friends. One committed to SDSU last night and today found out she was off the waitlist for Cal Poly SLO so just committed there instead!
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Occidental has Obama!
Macalester has Kofi Annan, Former UN Secretary-General – I don’t think that’s going to help me though! Haha!
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In my neck of the woods, the SLACs are well known and loved. We’re in New England so the ones around here are especially well known, but others (Macalester, Carleton, Occidental, Davidson) are as well. My kids’ small public HS has had students attend all of those recently. If it weren’t for her desire to continue cheering in college, we probably would have looked at some of those as well. She ended up choosing the honors college at a public university which I am hoping makes for a little bit of the SLAC feel.
In other news, we were just informed this afternoon that our freshman son has won an award for his performance on the National Latin Exam and will be inducted into the National Classics Honor Society. This is huge since he’s not the same super motivated student our D26 is. I congratulated him and told him how proud I am of him and he just kind of shrugged it off. Kid is so nonchalant about all the things.
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My Dad said something about it being expensive. My Dad is not “typically the best” and is judgmental. It took all my strength to not make a comment about not being cheap like him and actually wanting to support my kid’s success. (For the record, I am not implying parents who won’t pay for an LAC even if they can are cheap. I don’t think that! There is a litany of other history with my Dad that is based on).
Instead I just said, “we’re lucky we can afford it and we want to do this for our daughter.”
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I’m also a lurker on this board, but can add to the SLAC tally. D26 is headed to Bryn Mawr!
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Congratulations! Gorgeous campus. Such a cool place. When we went to Haverford admitted students day, the students my D26 was most impressed/excited by were the Bryn Mawr ones. Also, my bffs sibs went there and rave about it all the time!
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Goodness, it’s been a minute. So much to catch up on!
Congrats to everyone’s kiddos with their decisions. So many amazing schools! D26 really struggled between some really solid SLACs and R1 universities, but the huge private R1 (NYU) won out in the end.
All the senior year things going on, been quite a whirlwind. Prom is next weekend, then AP exams, graduation, grad party, etc. Of course, she tells me TODAY that she’s not sure about her dress. GRRRR.
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When my D22 graduated, we put up yard signs, one of which said “Rice-bound” – and 30 minutes later, our neighbor texted my husband and said, “Guess you’ll have to spend more time working and less time on the golf course with a tuition like that, huh?”
WTH. What about just, “Congratulations.” Or nothing. Nothing would have been fine.
(He’s like that, though. He spends a lot of time looking up house prices on Zillow so he can know what everyone in the neighborhood paid for their house. 
)
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Without knowing anything else, that sounds to me like a response born of envy.
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My girls went to a private high school, but one which sends 90% of kids to SEC schools.
When D22 had college T-shirt day, they did a “Texas schools” picture – and it included kids going to Baylor, SMU, TCU, A&M and possibly UT Austin – but no one thought to ask my kid to join because they didn’t know Rice was in Texas. 
(Never mind that the valedictorian from the previous year had also gone to Rice, but they’ve been the only two kids so far.)
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Possibly, but he’s much younger than us – he has a couple kids under age 5. So why is he even worried about where we’re sending our kid to college? Sheesh.
It’s funny, my high school boyfriend went to Rice, but I didn’t remember until joining this board that it’s in Texas. My excuse at this point is just that I am old.
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Well, I only knew because my kids were obsessed with a Pokemon YouTuber that had gone there!
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I’m with you. I’m a total mess today, actually, as it was D26’s last day of school – and it’s a big to-do with parents involved and a final senior chapel where they sing a song called “Never Alone” that is just BRUTAL.
I just finished my big Facebook post about it. Lots of mixed emotions, as D26’s overall high school experience was rocky – some really great things (band and theatre programs, many wonderful teachers), and some really crappy ones (no like-minded peers and trouble fitting in).
So I’m not sad to see her move on, but this is our last kid – and this fall will be the first time in 17 years that we haven’t had a child at this school. I’m still processing.
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